Can't compare 'Kai Po Che!' with '3 Idiots': Chetan Bhagat

"Kai Po Che!" can't be compared with "3 Idiots", says Chetan Bhagat whose two different books the two films are based upon.

After the box office success of "3 Idiots", a big screen adaptation of Bhagat's "Five Point Someone", now "Kai Po Che!", based on the author's "The 3 Mistakes of My Life", is ready to release Feb 22.

"'Kai Po Che!' is about to release and I just want people to like it as much as they liked '3 Idiots'. I can't say about box office because I really don't know anything about the box office collections," Bhagat told IANS.

Directed by Abhishek Kapoor, "Kai Po Che!" has new faces - debutant Sushant Singh Rajput along with a few-films-old Amit Sadh and Rajkumar Yadav.

"The film has newcomers so I just hope it breaks a few records in the newcomer films. One can't compare this with '3 idiot' because that had a very huge star cast," said the 38-year-old.

On the contrary, "3 Idiots" was directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Released in December 2009, the comedy-drama, which takes a critical look at the education system in the country, broke all box office opening records by earning over Rs.315 crore ($70 million) globally within 19 days of its release.

Its cast had big names like Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Boman Irani.

The film also launched Omi Vaidya in Bollywood.

Set in Ahmedabad, "Kai Po Che!" is about three friends, their dreams, aspirations and how they struggle to realise their goals while facing several roadblocks including their own mistakes.

An alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedaba, Bhagat has written the screenplay of "Kai Po Che!".

He is now writing the script for a Hindi remake of a Telugu film. To be directed by Sajid Nadiadwala, the film is titled "Kick" and stars Salman Khan in the lead role.